Mackey Arena cheered loudly. The Paint Crew jumped up and down. Here came the opening tip between A.J. Hammons and Troy Williams. As Hammons gained possession for the Boilermakers, Williams never made it off his feet and fell to the ground.

It was symbolic of things to come.

The Boilermakers established themselves immediately behind a raucous crowd tonight. Indiana went down for the count early, never to recover. Like the Buckeyes on Sunday, Purdue ramped up its defensive pressure on the perimeter, playing IU’s dribble handoffs tighter and getting into its air space. With Hammons behind the first line of defense to challenge any Hoosier who broke through, it was an intimidating, tough defense that gave Indiana trouble.

After going down by as many as 13, it seemed like the Hoosiers were settling into the game as the first half neared completion. Williams hit a layup with 1:45 left to close the gap to eight points. After an Emmitt Holt block and steal, Indiana had the opportunity to close the gap even further with just over a minute to play. But James Blackmon Jr. made an ill-advised pass to Williams — during a game Indiana was a bit too careless with the ball — on IU’s ensuing possession and Basil Smotherman stole it and scored in transition.

Indiana is not afraid to admit it: Preparing for Purdue is not like preparing for a typical opponent.

Year in and year out the Boilermakers and Hoosiers play for state bragging rights in the Big Ten’s oldest rivalry — dating back to 1901. Wednesday’s game in West Lafayette will be the 202nd all-time meeting between the two schools.

But this season specifically, the Boilermakers present a challenge the Hoosiers have worries about — playing two regulars who are taller than 7-feet. In contrast, the Hoosiers have not played anyone taller than 6-foot-8 in meaningful minutes during recent games.

“Teams are always going to try to play bigger against us,” junior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “That’s what I would do, personally, if I was a coach — just try and pound it inside. So what we have to do is just prepare very well for their bigs. We know they’re big inside.”

The added challenge of preparing for Purdue comes on short preparation following Sunday’s loss at Ohio State — in which the Hoosiers allowed the Buckeyes to shoot better than 63 percent on 2s. The Buckeyes, though, chose to play small against the undersized Hoosiers. Purdue prides itself on its size advantage.

The NBA officially announced participants for this year’s Sprite Slam Dunk at All-Star weekend and former IU guard Victor Oladipo will make his debut in the event.

Oladipo, who is averaging 16.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in his second professional season, will be joined by Brooklyn’s Mason Plumlee, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Minnesota’s Zach LaVine.

Indiana continues a two-game roadtrip on Wednesday night in West Lafayette at Mackey Arena for a rivalry matchup with Purdue. The Boilermakers are coming in at 12-8 overall, 4-3 in Big Ten play and are coming off a 67-63 win over Iowa on Saturday.

The game will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET on BTN with Gus Johnson and Stephen Bardo on the call:

For the first time since Feb. 4, 2010, we may have an Indiana-Purdue game that has some drama. This is a rivalry that, in its past eight meetings, has been decided by an average of 19.4 points. Indiana has won four of those contests by an average of 23.2 points and Purdue has taken the other four by an average of 15.5 points.

These two teams couldn’t be more different in terms of their personnel and the ways in which they attack, which could add intrigue to a series that has been lacking in recent years.

Purdue has two 7-footers in freshman Isaac Haas and junior A.J. Hammons. Indiana has one of the most dynamic perimeter units in the country, led by Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon Jr. and Troy Williams. The Boilermakers score 58.6 percent of their points in league play on 2s. The Hoosiers get just 44.4 percent of their points on 2s. Purdue scores only 21.7 percent of its points against conference opponents from behind the 3-point line. Indiana gets 37.5 percent of its points from distance.

For Indiana, which has already won two road games in league play, this is a chance to steal another one away from Assembly Hall in what should be an electric environment. And for Purdue, which needs to start collecting quality wins to hold out any hope for an NCAA tournament berth, it’s an important one to keep the dream alive.

After a hot start from the Hoosiers, Ohio State ramped up its defensive pressure — taking Indiana out of its comfort zone and forcing turnovers. On the flip side, the Hoosiers had trouble containing Ohio State perimeter action and gave up a number of buckets at the cup on the drive.

We’ll take a look at both teams defensively in the latest edition of Film Session:

With the Hoosiers still up six points just over five minutes into the first half, Robert Johnson starts Indiana’s offensive possession looking for a dribble handoff to James Blackmon Jr.:

But D’Angelo Russell jumps into the passing lane in front of Blackmon Jr. just as the handoff is about to occur:

Johnson, perhaps caught by surprise, continues to try and make the pass around Russell, but there’s really no angle here: